Leo 1 (just)

According to Wikipedia - Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in Leo. At about 820,000 light years distant, it is a member of the Local Group of galaxies and is thought to be one of the most distant satellites of the MilkyWay. It was discovered in 1950 on plates from the Palomar 48" schmidt camera. It is only 12' N of Regulus which makes it easy to find, impossible (for most) to see and very difficult to image.

I know this is a rough image but I'm just happy to capture it. 4x300s

needs no introduction

As Pete says, It's hard not to get a half decent image of M42. Like all the others it's a work in progress.

deep red

This shows the kind of stuff (The California nebula) which with an H alpha enhanced camera and an Astronomik cls filter you can start to image from bright skies.

Holiday snap

Just to put some astro content in- here is a pic of Lower Tresmorn farm in Crackington Haven,Cornwall. I used a Zenitar 15mm and combined two exposures.

Tools

In the last year I downsized (apparently they now say rightsized) from a 12" LX200 to a Skywatcher 120ED on an EQ6 goto mount.

This is on a steel pier in a Skyshed Pod dome.

Camera is a Hutech modded EOS350D.

Guide camera is Starlight Express lodestar

"Guidescope" is 300mm f4 telephoto. I also use this for imaging.

Where are we now

This blog will show my ups and downs in the astrophotographic universe. I'm in Haversham on the Northern outskirts of Milton Keynes, UK. On a good autumn night I can just about see the milky way, using averted imagination!
One purpose of blogging is to encourage me to go out and achieve something - ie if I see no posts for ages I will hopefully feel v. guilty (or the weather has been as normal)